INTRODUCTION:

Medicinal plants have been a major source of cure for human diseases since time immemorial. It is no wonder that the world’s one-fourth population i.e. 1.42 billion people, are dependent on traditional medicines for the treatment of various ailments ^[1]. Medicinal herbs are moving from fringe to main stream use with a greater number of people seeking remedies and health approaches free from side effects caused by synthetic chemicals.

Recently considerable attention has been paid to utilize eco-friendly and bio-friendly plant based products for the prevention and cure of different human diseases. Considering the adverse effects of synthetic drugs, the Western population is looking for natural remedies, which are safe and effective. It is documented that most of the World’s population has taken in traditional medicine, particularly plant drug for the primary health care ^[2]^. The Indian flora offers a variety of plants having medicinal properties. These plants can be exploited to find out effective alternative to synthetic drugs ^[3].

Plumbago indica (Begali name: Agnichita ) belonging to the family Plumbaginaceae , is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family. Most species in this family are perennial herbaceous plants, but a few grow as lianas or shrubs. The plants have perfect flowers and are pollinated by insects. They are found in many different climatic regions, from arctic to tropical conditions, but are particularly associated with salt-rich steppes, marshes, and sea coasts. Plumbago popularly known as chittiramulam, in Tamil and white leadwort in English.Plumbaginaceae is distributed as a weed throughout the tropical and subtropical countries of the world. The family Plumbaginaceae consists of 10 genera and 280 species. The genus Plumbago includes 3 species, namely Plumbago indica. L, Plumbago rosea. L, Plumbagocapensis. L, and Plumbago zeylanica .L, which are distributed in several parts of India^[^4]. Plumbago Indica root increases digestive power, promotes appetite and has long been marked as a powerful antiseptic. A liniment made from bruised root mixed with a few amount of bland oil is used in treating rheumatism, paralysis, leucoderma, enlarged glands and buboes and scorpion-sting^[^5]. Scraped root is inserted into the mouth of the womb to procure illegal abortion, a tincture of the root is used in secondary syphilis, leprosy, dyspepsia, hemorrhage, piles, flatulence, loss of appetite and other digestive complaints, and the milky juice of the plant is used in ophthalmia, scabies and as an antiseptic agent.. The principle aim of the present study was to investigate the scientific basis of the traditional uses of the plant Plumbago indica L. and in the same time find the chemical groups present in the active plant parts to get preliminary idea about the active constituent. The primary goal of the research will be complemented by a series of further secondary aims-

1. Extraction of the plant material by using solvent

2. Qualitative analysis of different chemical group present in the plant extracts to get preliminary idea about the compound present in the extract.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Plumbago indica L. was subjected to pharmacognostic study. The various methods used in the study included organoleptic study, fluorescence analysis and preliminary phytochemical studies.

Organoleptic study:

The powder of Plumbago indica L. was used for studies. The colour variation and taste were the basis for this test as given by Jackson and Snowdown ^[6].

The fluorescence properties were studied under UV light adopting the method described by Kokoshi, Chase and Pratt ^[7.8]. The behavior of the samples with different chemical reagents was studied and fluorescence characters were observed on long UV light at 254nm.

About 20 gm of the powder of Plumbago indica. L. was weighed accurately and mixed with 250 ml of hot water. After 1hour it was filtered and the supernatant was used as the extract. The preliminary phytochemical test of this extract was performed by specific reagents. These extracts were subjected to qualitative chemical tests for detection of various plant constituents.

Table - 1. Organoleptic study of the powder:

1.	Colour	Green
2.	Odour	Characteristics
3.	Taste	Mucilaginous and slightly bitter

Table -2. The fluorescence analysis of the powder of Plumbago indica L.:

S.No.	Treatment with chemical reagents	Observation
1.	Powder as such	Green
2.	Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in methanol	Light green
3.	Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in water	Blackish green
4.	Powder + 50% Hydrochloric acid	Light green
5.	Powder + 50% Sulphuric acid	Light green
6.	Powder + 50% Nitric acid	Green
7.	Powder + Petroleum ether	Green
8.	Powder + Chloroform	Deep brown
9.	Powder + Picric acid	Green
10.	Powder + 5% Ferric chloride solution	Green
11.	Powder + 5% Iodine solution	Deep brown
12.	Powder + Methanol	Light Green
13.	Powder + (Nitric acid + Ammonia)	Green

Table- 3. The behaviour of the leaf powder of Plumbago indica L. when treated with different chemical reagents:

S.No.	Treatment with chemical reagents	Observation
1.	Powder as such	Green
2.	Concentrated Hydrochloric acid	Light Yellow
3.	Concentrated Sulphuric acid	Deep brown
4.	Concentrated Nitric acid	Reddish brown
5.	Glacial acetic acid	Blackish green
6.	5% Sodium hydroxide solution	Brown
7.	5% Potassium hydroxide solution	Green
8.	5% Ferric chloride solution	Green
9.	Picric acid	Yellow
10.	Ammonia	Light Brown
11.	Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in methanol	Yellowish green
12.	Powder + 1N Sodium hydroxide in water	Yellowish brown

Table- 4. Different chemical group tests of Plumbago indica L. and their results:

Test groups	Name of the test	Presumption
Reducing sugar	Fehling’s solution test	+
Reducing sugar	Benedict’s test	+
Steroids	Salkowski and Libermann-burchared test	+
Glycosides	Salkowski test	-
	Libermann-burchared test	-
	Keller-Kiliani test
Tannins	Ferric chloride Test	-
	Potassium dichromate test	-
	Keller-Kiliani test
Alkaloids	Mayer^’s test	+
	Dragendorff’s reagent test	+
	Wagner’s reagent test	+
	Hager’s reagent test	+
	Tannic acid test
Flavonoids		+
Saponins		-
Gums		+

+ = Presence – = Absence

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

The pharmacognostical characters of the aerial powders have been studied by screening the same through varying parameters.

The investigation on organoleptic study of aerial powder of Plumbago indica L. indicated the characters like colour, odour and taste. The colour of the aerial powder showed green colour. The taste and odour of the aerial powders were also tested. The taste is slightly bitter and on analysis the aerial powder gives a characteristic odour (Table 1).

The aerial powders are treated with various chemicals exhibited various colours in the UV light. When the powder was treated with aqueous 1 N NaOH and 50% H₂SO₄ the aerial powder exhibited light green colours in UV light and the results are depicted in (Table 2).

When the leaf powders were treated with chemicals like FeCl₃, HCl, HNO₃, picric acid, NH₃, NaOH+ methanol, Iodine solution, etc various shades of green, light yellow, reddish brown, yellow, light brown, yellowish green, etc colours were obtained (Table 3) ^[9].

Pharmaceutical preparation derived from natural resources such as vegetables often contain compounds that contribute the antimicrobial defense systems and apparently play a role in the protection against degenerative diseases.

CONCLUSION:

The results of organoleptic study offer a scientific basis for the traditional use of Plumbago indica L. which possess characters like green, characteristic odour, mucilaginous and slightly bitter taste. The leaf powders when treated with various chemicals exhibited various colours in the UV light. The aerial part of the Plumbago indica L. has been tested for the identification of the chemical group present in that plant. It has been found that Reducing sugars , Alkaloids, Steroids, Flavonoids and Gums were present .

REFERENCES:

1. Reddy, K.J. (2004): Medicinal plant research scenario in India, Info concepts India Inc., pp.25-28.

2. Dubey, N.K., Kumar, R. and Tripathi, P. (2004): Global promotion of herbal medicine: India’s opportunity, Current Science, 86(1), pp.37-41.

3. Gaikwadi, S.S., Vadlamudi, V.P., Waghmaee, S.P., Maral, V.J., Ranteke, V.D. and Dhok, A.P. (2003): Phytochemical analysis of aqueous extract of few medicinal plants, PKV. Res. J., 27(1), pp.91-92.

4. Van Der Vijver Lm. Distribution of plumbagin in the Plumbaginaceae. Phytochemistry 1974, Vol 11, Pages 3247–3248.

5. Bala Rathinasabapathi, Walid M. Fouad, and Celia A. Sigua . β-Alanine Betaine Synthesis in the Plumbaginaceae. Purification and Characterization of a Trifunctional, S-Adenosyl-l-Methionine-Dependent N-Methyltransferase from Limonium latifolium Leaves. Plant Physiol. 2001, Vol 126(3), Pages 1241–1249.

6. Jackson, B.P. and Snowdown, D.W. (1968): Powdered vegetable drugs, Cheer Chil Ltd., London, pp.25.

7. Kokoshi, G.J., Kokoshi, J.R. and Sharma, F.J. (1958): Fluorescence of powdered vegetable drugs under ultra violet radiation, J. Amer. Pharm. Assn., 38(10), pp.715-717.

8. Chase, C.R. and Pratt, R.F. (1949): Fluorescence of powdered vegetable drugs with particular reference to the development of systems of identification, J. American Pharm. Assoc., 38, pp.324-333.

9. Pandey, H.C., Dixit, R.S. and Sharma, H.P. (1984): Addition to the Pharmacognosy of Kalimulri (Curculigo orchioides), Bull. Med. Ethnobot. Res., 5(1-2), pp. 55-56.

Received on 16.04.2012 Accepted on 05.08.2012

Asian J. Res. Pharm. Sci. 2(3): July-Sept. 2012; Page 88-90